To the last breath
by joniedinofreak
Summary: AU/ starts on the end of homecoming Jake failed to save Rose and her death has larger consequences than anyone could suspect. R&R please!


_Disclaimer: I do not own American Dragon: Jake Long, Disney does and all credit for this show and the characters should go to them. Also, it's the first time I wrote a story like this, so I'll appreciate any criticism and/or advice._

_PS: English isn't my native tongue so I hope you won't have any problems reading the story!_

_Greetings,_

_Joniedinofreak._

* * *

"Jake", she simply said, "let go, I'll be ok. I promise".

His grip, weakening, despite that they both knew it. She wouldn't be ok. Yet even then a plan forming in his mind.

"I'll be ok," their hands separated. Jake knew he had to act fast, so he ran for the skull. "We have to do something, we have to use the skulls to save her". Fu's voice was filled with regret when he answered that they couldn't, yet Jake believed he could still save Rose, so he walked forward to use the skull.

"I wish Ro-", his wish interrupted as Lao Shi, dragon-upped and took the skull out of Jake's hands. Before Jake could even say anything, he saw the skull being pulverized by Lao Shi's foot. In a final desperate attempt he flew, trying to get to Rose. She was almost in his grasp.

Almost, before she disintegrated right before his eyes. "Rose! NOOOO!", his cry loud enough to be heard throughout various blocks in New York. He grasped whatever he could of the ashes of his girlfriend and then flew off.

Those who were standing on the top of the pantheon reacted different to the scene. Stating that Trixie and spud were angry at Lao, would have been an understatement. Watching their former friend like that, pained them.

Lao simply shook his head as he saw his grandson and dragon student losing his control. After all a distracted dragon is a dead dragon. It would all go back as it should once he moved on.

Sun simply stood there, shocked whether it was by Lao Shi's cruelness or by Jake's desperate attempts to catch what he could of his girlfriend's ashes, none could tell. Fu was gone from the roof, trying to find whatever he could to comfort Jake with

. Only Haley actually acted as she transformed in a dragon, following her brother. She followed him to the top of the Empire State Building, where she found Jake, sobbing with whatever ashes he had caught, collected in a pink vase. He knew Haley landed behind him, dragon hearing is a lot better than human hearing and he was still smart enough to know it was a small creature that landed behind him, a small pink dragon.

"You know Hales, this should have been our night, we were homecoming king and queen! And yet the Huntsclan even managed to ruin this night. She died and we can't even give her the funeral she deserves."

"The dragon council wouldn't have allowed it Jake"

"Damn the council! She saved the entire magical community! And what did they do to her? They betrayed her!"

Haley had never before heard her brother talk to her like that. They had their fights, but he never cursed in front of her. Yet she knew he had never before lost his girlfriend, so she tried not to take this to personally.

"Everything will be alright, you hear me Jake? All will be alright."

When he heard her say this, Jake turned and wanted to snap at her. But he couldn't, no, this was his little sister, this was one of the few persons in the world he still cared about. He wouldn't harm her, so he simply lied. "I hope so Hales, I really do". "Go to home, I'm coming a bit later".

Haley hesitated, she could see the tears still flowing from his eyes, she could see his frustration and sadness, but she could also see his reassuring smile, faintly but it was there. So she left, all would be right. Or at least that's what she thought.

For an hour after Haley left Jake was thinking about all the time he spent with Rose and a plan formed in his head. A slight whimper of hope, one small spark of hope. So he flew to the shop to talk to Fu.

Fu was checking all the information he could about the skulls when Jake stormed in. "Fu!" Jake shouted, rushing in through the front door. "Can't we use an Egyptian Scarab to get Rose back to live?" Yet whatever hope he had was crushed was by Fu's look.

"Jake, A wish made with the skulls can only be undone with the skulls, I'm sorry kid". Jake's legs gave out with this news, his hope crushed. " At least she'll be in heaven, I guess", Jake said, giving in, because he couldn't find anything else to hold on to.

His despair however raised as he saw Fu's face sadden more, if that was even possible. "What Fu? WHAT?". "Nothing", Fu's reply, both doubtful and fearful for Fu hoped he had read that part wrong. He hoped he could comfort Jake in any way, but in the end, he simply couldn't.

"Tell me the truth Fu, I can see on your face that you're lying", "You don't want to-", "TELL ME FU!" This sentence followed by a roar, made Fu whimper and in the end tell Jake the truth. " You better sit down for this Jake, you see, when the vortex created by the skulls sucked Rose in, her soul and that of every Huntsclan member got stuck in a zone between heaven and hell. Their souls are stuck there for eternity and the only way to get it out there, was with the skulls.", "SAY WHAT?"

"Their souls are stuck there for eternity Jake", Fu replied, shaking of fear. "So G. destroyed her only way of salvation? G. betrayed me?" "The old man did what he thought to be the best. You'd only be distracted –", "YOU ALL BETRAYED ME FU! YOU ALL JUST BETRAYED ME!" To say Jake was furious would have been a large understatement, his eyes were full of fire, his blood boiling, his heart beating like the drums of an entire parade and his mind became clouded, whatever conscience he still had told him to get out of there before it was too late. So he did and Fu had noticed the change in Jake's emotions, but not the change on the outside.

Jake flew around for hours thinking before he returned home. Just to see that the clock said 6:30 am. Maybe school will distract me from my thoughts, Jake thought. So he took his backpack and left, before Haley or his parents could even greet him.

School, the one place where Jake thought he'd never been comfortable, but was, at least until Trixie and Spud showed up. He evaded them as much as he could, but when classes started he wouldn't be able to anymore. Luckily they got the hint and left him alone. Brad on the other hand…

"Hey, look everybody! It's Freak Long!", "Leave me alone Brad," with the undertone in his voice any other person would have backed off, but not Brad, he considered himself the strongest. "Oh, look at that! Freak Lo-", "Don't finish that sentence Mr. Morton or you'll have detention," Sun had walked in and knew that Jake was on an edge so tried to prevent any conflicts. "Jake saw someone he loves die yesterday so be a bit easy on him".

Some things shouldn't be said however and this was one of these things, because the fellow students wanted to know who and what happened. Sun, figuring Rotwood would tell the students soon enough about Rose's death decided to tell them she had an accident and died before Jake's eyes.

"So you didn't save Rose-licious? I'LL KILL YOU FOR THAT LONG!" Brad shot towards Jake, taking him up by his collar. "I tried Morton", "You should have tried harder", "AND YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING ABOUT IT!". And before Brad could even do anything else he kicked Brad right between the legs, using the time he got to leave the classroom.

Gotten out of school he dragon-upped and flew away to the top of the pantheon building. And he just sat there and thought, all he needed to do to solve his problems was to fall, to fall and to not dragon-up for once. Let others solve their own problems, the world fared perfect before he was there, why would it need him now? He just could solve his problems like that. Yet, then again, why would HE pay for THEIR ungratefulness. He could abandon his dragon duties and not one magical creature would be able to stop him. But what was he beside the American Dragon? What was his purpose beside that? Would he be able to become a normal human after all that happened? No and he wouldn't help Rose 's soul a single bit with it. Yes, that'd be his purpose, his single purpose, to find a way to either rescue Rose's soul or to find a way to be united with her at least, for one and for all.

He knew what he'd do, he just didn't know how. So he flew for hours, thinking, what he'd do next. Though he had forgotten he had had no sleep at all between Homecoming and this moment and even a dragon has its limits to what it can do. So he landed in an alley with the last of his strength and changed back. He had only just walked out of the alley, when he bumped into a familiar looking person. "Rose?" he asked and then the world turned black.

"_Wake up! You can't stay here!" _Jake groaned, he wanted to keep dreaming, relive the moments he had with Rose. Realization hit him, Rose was gone, forever. But who had he bumped into? Only one way to find out. And he opened his eyes….

To find himself in a room with the all too familiar face looming over him. "I think he woke up!", Who was she shouting to? Where was he? Yet all these questions faded when he looked at the face of the girl, she looked so much like Rose. Yet there were differences, the way she looked, the way she smiled and as his gaze wandered he saw the biggest difference, the lack of a dragon-shaped birthmark. So the question that escaped his lips was "Who are you?", the answer being quick and short "Lilly".

Lilly appeared to be smarter than most, she had quickly realized that the strange boy knew her missing twin sister judging by his reaction, but the shock in his voice when he said her twin sister's name, told her something had happened with her. So she had called her parents for help and together they interrogated the strange boy. They felt he was withholding information, but they couldn't do much about it, after all he told them what they wanted to know, until her death at the hands of those lunatics who kidnapped her. Yet one question remained "Why didn't you save her?". "I tried", he said at the very edge of crying, but it wasn't enough for Lilly and her parents "You could've tried harder! Now we'll never get the chance to see our daughter again!" the father shouted. His hope had been taken away and he only thought about his family and himself, ignoring the feelings of the boy in front of him. So the boy ran, everywhere he went, people seemed to try to make HIM pay for what happened with Rose. Whilst it was Lao's fault, Jake could've saved Rose, if Lao hadn't prevented him to. But telling that would mean he'd have to tell the full story. Telling the full story meant people would think he was mad. But on the other side, who said he wasn't mad already?

That night even his dreams confronted him. He stood in between two rows walking on him on one side, magical creatures shouting stuff ranging from "You should have protected us!" and "A distracted dragon is a slain dragon" to Lao Shi saying "A dragon should always put others their gain above their own"; on the opposite direction there were humans including Brad, Rose's family and others shouting "You should've tried harder!" . And then he heard 3 voices, the first being Rose's "I'll be ok, I promise", the second being Fu's "Their souls are stuck there for eternity", the third one was Haley's "The dragon council wouldn't allow it". Wait, he could hear another voice, one that whispered, but it was there nonetheless "You know, if you had attacked Gramps for the skull, you would've been able to save Rose", "But he's my grandfather!", "And Rose was the love of your life, she was the one, lost forever". "She wouldn't have wanted me to be like that," but the doubt remained. He could've saved her. And as he was actually thinking about that a last voice came "They always wondered why I turned as I was, now you experienced firsthand why". Why was that voice so familiar. He couldn't place it, yet it was familiar as if he heard a voice a bit more… pure? Yes, that was it, the voice sounded like it was purified to a certain extent, but who's voice was it? He couldn't say.

The next morning Jake woke up, his nightmares had continued and this left him in a bad mood. He ignored all attempts made by his family to talk, he had eaten his breakfast and left to school. Trixie and Spud stood near his door, but noticed he definitely wasn't in the mood for any talk. And both knew this was going to cause trouble. A lot of it.

The moment Jake stepped into school, Brad came up to him, certain to make him pay for failing to save 'his' Rose-licious. " Didn't I tell you I'll kill you? Time's up Long!" and with that he put his hands around Jake's neck. Jake however watched things as it was a movie before his eyes, he saw himself dragon-up, he saw himself throw Brad into a locker and smacking into him, hitting him on multiple places with his claws and he heard a voice which wasn't his shout "I told you to leave me alone! Weak human, consider this the start of retribution! If I ever see you again, I'll rip you to pieces! Limb by limb," that last sentence more like a whisper towards Brad, fear in his eyes, like Jake was a nightmare come true . And then Jake left the school, still in Dragon form. These Humans wanted him to go over the edge? Fine, then New York will burn! New York will be nothing else but a smoking ruin! "And I'll start with Fillmore" he thought out loud and he flew back. He launched a fireball towards the school, right into Rotwood's office. "Bad luck for you Rotwood" he chuckled and he could've sworn he could hear "It's Principal Professor Rotwood!" coming out of the flames….

He prepared to launch a second fireball when he heard this small voice "Jake, don't do it, this won't get her back", no, it wouldn't, but it'd be retaliation. "Focus on your goal, don't let them distract you! You need to find information," Jake knew the voice was telling the truth, so he flew off, leaving the school for what it was. He'd have to find a way. Somehow he knew there was a way and he knew the person who'd be able to tell him or put him on a trail to find that way. It did mean he'd have to break Chang free.

- A few months later, Hong Kong-

"Come 'on grandpa! We're on vacation here!", "I'm sorry Haley, but the timing of this vacation is no coincidence", Lao Shi didn't like to put the duty of being the American dragon on Haley, but she'd already proven herself in the months Jake was gone. So now she had to attend the thousand year drink as the American dragon. Only a handful of persons still believed Jake to be alive, especially when they found his red skin months ago. Right now, the myth was that Jake, in his despair, had freed Chang and Chang had used a drop of his blood to resurrect the Dark Dragon, before using the rest of Jake to create, the now #2 threat to the magical community, the Maroon Dragon. Lao Shi was a believer of that myth as the alternative would somehow mean he had had 2 molting cycles in one year and after all , his grandson wouldn't have killed Brocahmas, the leprechaun merchant, or the Gorgon sisters in cold blood. No, Lao wouldn't believe that Jake even could be the Maroon Dragon.

Haley, however, was convinced they were the same. Lao hadn't seen him show mercy to the innocent and weakened. Sure, he might have killed the gorgon sisters or Brocahmas or even that bully Brad (she did remember the way he was killed though, literally ripped to pieces). But he could've killed Sun or Fu on multiple occasions and he didn't. He just had let them, every time he fought them. But the reason she was sure it was Jake was when she had fought him personally. Only once they had fought, but she had seen him hold back, whilst she had fought as hard as she could. She had exhausted herself and she'd fainted. Only to find herself back home in her bed when she awoke. She could've sworn she had heard somebody whisper "I could never harm you sis, never". She had tried to fight him again and confront him, but every time she appeared the Maroon Dragon flew away, this led however to the council believing her to be the only dragon (beside perhaps the Dark Dragon) to be able to defeat him. She knew that was the actual reason the council had demanded for her to come, they were afraid and wanted the only one they thought to be able to defeat the Maroon Dragon to be there.

- Same moment, somewhere else-

Jake had found out a lot of things in the past months. For example, he found out Rose's dream door was still there when exploring with his dream bracelet. He couldn't find a way to get her out through the dream world, but at least they could talk. So they had spent months planning, using what information Jake could find to make a perfect plan. Almost everything was ready for the plan. All they still had need of, was a distraction. And that was why he contacted Chang again, he had helped her break out in exchange for all she knew about the vortex the skulls had caused. And she had happily given the information he needed, when she found out how he was changing. And he had changed a lot, just not in the way he wanted people to think. He killed yes, but only those who stood in his way. Brocahmas had refused to give ingredients for a portal potion, a plan that had failed, but in Brocahmas stock he had found an ancient tome with more information on the skulls then anyone could assume. So he needed a new item, one that was in the possession of the gorgon sisters. They had attacked him the moment he appeared so he killed them and took the item of their bodies. And Brad? Well he had somehow found out about 88 and 89 and teamed up with them to attempt to kill him, he could've let Brad escape but he didn't, because he kept his promises. 88 and 89 were gone, but they could be anywhere, he couldn't care less.

However he had contacted Chang and there were only two things they could think off that could distract the council enough so Jake could exercise his plan. A new identity or reviving the Dark Dragon, so he did both. His skin was ready to burst at that point anyway, he had gotten more cruel and evil as time progressed, so a new darker skin had formed, something that apparently all dragons that had a similar evolution had to go through. So in a matter of hours the American Dragon skin was gone and the Maroon Dragon was born. The color of his old skin, was his normal red again, a color he hadn't been for a few months already, his new skin, was nearly as dark as the Dark Dragon's… But it still had this slight red tint.

The second part was bringing the Dark Dragon back, to do this they had help from Fu's former replacement, Bananas B., the monkey had hurt Haley however and Jake was certain to make him pay for that, at least when he no longer needed him. He stayed on the background during the collection of most of the ingredients. When a drop of blood or dragon chi was needed, he had cut his hand and thus made sure of the Dark Dragon's return. However the Dark Dragon was weakened, to get his full strength the drop of blood had to be of someone pure of heart and Jake was far from pure, this still made sure the Dark Dragon was strong, but he wasn't the strongest dragon anymore, there were 2 stronger dragons, Lao Shi and the Maroon Dragon.

He recalled these steps he had to make to get this far and then he recalled his conversation of this morning before he met up with Bananas, Chang and the Dark Dragon. A short conversation, but with his goal so close by he had no time to waste.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes, Jake, no need to worry"

"I know, but I love you. I can't help but fear we'd fail somehow."

"We'll be fine Jake, I promise, we'll finally be united again. No matter what."

"Just be there, ok?"

A nod and a quick kiss, today would finally be their day no matter what.

"I got to talk to Trixie and Spud, so I've got to go. I love you"

"I love you too Jake", and after he had left she simply whispered into the emptiness "I love you too". And then she wandered to the place they would meet.

- 25 minutes later-

"Where is that lazy dragon? We agreed to meet at this place 5 minutes ago"

"I'm here Dark Dragon" a voice shouted from behind him.

"Here at last? About time, we don't have time to lose! Chang and Bananas are already on phase one of the plan, I need you to make sure they can't escape the moment they're in here!"

"Fine, but remember, I'm not showing myself and you don't kill Lao, he's mine!"

"Do you think I'm stupid?" a silence was all the answer he got "Of course I wouldn't kill Lao! I need him alive for my plan to work! Just make sure you do your part of the plan and leave the rest to me!"

"God, I'll be glad once I can be rid of him" they both thought at the same time, they would never be friends, they only were temporary allies, until one of them reached their goal. In which case they were very likely to turn on the other. But right now, they needed each other.

"Go! They won't be away much longer!"

And with that he disappeared in purple smoke and Jake left out of sight. They had only done that when Chang and Banana's came speeding in. A minute or 2 later, Haley, Trixie and Spud entered the building.

" I don't want to be a downer or something, but I got the feeling we just walked into a…." and Jake made sure the doors closed before Spud could finish his sentence.

"A trap" Haley said, mentally smacking herself because she allowed that to happen. And then the Dark Dragon appeared, laughing as shades appeared surrounding the trio.

"The Dark Dragon!" Haley exclaimed shocked because she knew that where the Dark Dragon was, her brother wouldn't be too far away.

" Is that evil laugh really necessary? I mean, it's just so cliché" Spud said, not grasping the seriousness of the situation.

Meanwhile Haley had already dragon-upped and was analyzing trying to find the most effective way to defeat the Dark Dragon. But she knew she couldn't do it when she heard Chang.

"I wouldn't do that American Dragon, unless you want to be responsible for your grandfather's death"

"You can save him, as you know the dragons of the world hold their thousand years toast during tonight's eclipse" the dark dragon said.

"We expect you to slip a few drops of this potion into each of their drinks, do that and your grandfather will be save" Chang continued

"See you tonight, American Dragon" The Dark Dragon finished, " Maroon Dragon, we move out"

"Of course, Dark Dragon" Jake said from the shadows in the far corner, for the first time attracting the attention of those present. And he teleported, though Haley could've sworn he had nodded towards them before he disappeared.

"What should we do?" she sighed

-That Evening-

"American Dragon, I had hoped you to be more punctual than your brother"

"Councilors" was Haley's short reply.

"Where is Lao Shi?" Sun asked, fear present in her voice.

"Grandpa will arrive a bit later, he's been delayed for a while. May I serve the drinks?"

"Go ahead American Dragon"

Haley slipped the potion in the drink for the councilors and then started pouring the drinks in the cups of all the dragons, and as she moved, she came to the table of one of them, who was a bit more talkative then the others…

"Hey, I thought the American dragon was a guy, what happened?"

"He disappeared months ago" Haley said with a sad smile.

"Too bad, he was a good lad, sure we had our prank battles, but he was a damn good dragon, saved me from the Dark Dragon once, whilst he didn't have to" the dragon recalled, saddened now.

"Excuse me?"

"Name's Fred, Fred Nerk. I'm the Australian dragon, what's your name missy?"

"Haley Long" she answered, she had to move on to the next dragon, quickly, before he started asking questions "We'll talk later, ok?"

"Ok, Sheila, I've still got some questions for you, yes, I'll keep you to that"

But Haley didn't hear those last words anymore.

-A bit further, on a place overlooking Victoria Peak-

"Excellent! The American dragon has served all the drinks! It'll be our time to strike any moment now" the Dark Dragon chuckled "Soon dragons will be on their rightful place as rulers of the world!"

Jake simply smiled knowingly. Yes, soon I'll have reached my goal and then I'll finally get rid of him and that vermin that serves him. Just a bit more patience.

"How does it feel Lao Shi? How does it feel to be betrayed ?" Jake heard Chang whisper, but none were surprised no answer came.

"They just drank the potion! Go!" The Dark Dragon spoke. And with that they teleported to the temple. The final stage had begun.

"And may I propose another toast? To the domination of dragons!"

"The Dark Dragon!" the dragons panicked and dragon-upped instantly, not a single person paying attention to Maroon shape that had flown up so he was close to the councilors.

"Fools! Resistance is futile, you are all under a mind control spell served by your beloved American Dragon!" Jake saw Chang had the time of her life, after all she would never have fallen under a mind control spell, she would never have been so naïve… Or would she?

"Haley! Is this true?" Sun asked, the shock obvious in her voice.

"I had no choice! They have Grandpa!" Haley had forgotten about Lao Shi, but now, she saw him, intact and alive, but his will had been broken and at that very moment, she was completely certain her suspicions were true, so that left the question, where was Jake? But first, she needed to be certain Lao was freed.

"Release my Grandpa! You promised!"

Chang doubted, she knew Lao could still fight, despite being weakened by the sphinx hair. But when she saw Jake and the look on his face, she also realized that if she didn't, he'd attack her and the plan would be doomed. So she released Lao. " And we keep our promises"

In the meantime the Dark Dragon got more upset by this loss of time they had suffered and being himself, he wanted to show his power. An command was in order. " Korean Dragon! Kill Councilor Andam"

The other dragons could see Sun fight something, but they didn't know what. More importantly, each and every one of them was fighting something themselves an headache throbbing in their own heads. And then they saw Sun's ears change. Right after that they all changed completely or partly in an animal.

"Wow, that was unexpected" Bananas exclaimed "Is that supposed to happen?"

And Haley simply laughed "It's a local specialty , it's called 'transformation tea', I switched the potion! And I think I speak for all dragons if I say we'll never serve you! Mind control spell or not!" If anyone would have paid attention to the maroon shape above the council seats, they could've seen him smirk and his eyes glow with pride. But no one did, so he could prepare for his next move.

"Maroon Dragon! Attack the council!" the Dark Dragon ordered, smiling as the maroon shape jumped down from the roof. But he didn't count on the Maroon Dragon just moving towards the door, ignoring and evading attacks from the council.

Jake was almost at the door that gave entrance to the temple, after he pushed Andam into Kulkulkhan, when Sun stepped in front of him and she instantly recognized him as she looked him in the eyes. "Jake? Is that really you?"

"Yes it is me Sun. Now step aside! I'm too close to my goal to be stopped now!" Yet Sun didn't move, she couldn't, what was so important to this temple that he had to be in there? If he really and the Maroon Dragon were the same, then it couldn't be any good. Jake noticed this and shouted something nobody could've expected "Trix, Spud! I know you two are standing outside so get Sun out of my way! Or I'll make her!"

Sun could see the plea in Jake's eyes and realized he meant no harm, so she stepped aside as Trixie, Spud, Susan and Jonathon ran onto the domain. The lot all carrying huntstaves for unknown reasons. They could only see Jake walk into the temple before the door closed behind him, so they observed the situation.

The Dark Dragon was stunned, he hadn't known his ally, the Maroon Dragon, had been the American Dragon, Chang had forgotten to tell him to make cooperation easier. Where he would've given a long speech about how he had won already and what he'd do , he now stood speechless.

Spud realizing this, quickly intervened and said "Before you even start, let's skip the whole cliché evil speech and just get to the badass Kung-Fu fighting for once"

"I second the mortal's motion!" Councilor Kulde shouted and the Dark Dragon summoned his dark shades.

Haley had freed Lao Shi and together they used the sphinx hair net to put Chang out of battle. Afterwards they battled the Dark Dragon, but they proved to be no match for him as Lao Shi was weakened by the effects of the sphinx hair.

Trixie and Spud were to occupied dodging dragon fire to be of any use. Susan and Jonathon were fighting the shades, until Jonathon came with the idea to use the moonlight and one of the cups with jewels to dispatch of all the shades. Fu tried to help where he could, but found his weight to be a burden, so he got out of the way.

But even after the shades and Chang were dispatched all the dragons were no match for the Dark Dragon. Contented with this statement the Dark Dragon exclaimed proudly "Is there no one powerful enough to challenge me?"

An answer came from the door " We are!". The Dark Dragon turned and his face changed because what he saw, he thought only to be able to see in his worst nightmares…

-Inside the temple, after Jake went in-

Jake moved quick, time was running out and he had to reach the top floor. He knew the fastest way, but his heart started beating like it was about to burst. "It shouldn't, why am I panicking" he thought, "I've studied the blueprints for weeks! This is the best way. The door at the end of the hall to the right. Yes, I can see it" and he dragon-downed as he reached the door. He opened the door and there she stood… "You kept me waiting dragon boy".

He stepped forward and hugged her, feeling her flesh for the first time in months, they were reunited at last.

"Rose, I-" but he was cut off as she kissed him and broke it a few seconds later. "As much as I want this moment to last forever, we need to hurry" and she stepped aside, showing 8 other persons in huntsclan uniform. "These are the only ones I managed to convince unfortunately" she said pointing to them. "It should be enough, they recognized me and the Dark Dragon is weaker and that's assuming he didn't have to fight a single moment by now. We'll be able to deal with it."

"I hope so Jake, I really do" she whispered. "We'll be fine Rose, I promise, we'll be fine". He turned and started walking "Follow me!"

As they walked down towards the ground floor of the temple, one of the huntsclan members moved up next to Jake. "How did you know this could work? As far as we knew that wish should have been our total destruction!"

"It's actually quite simple, the skulls were never meant to destroy, they were meant to create, to build, to restore. So when Rose wished for the destruction of the Huntsclan, that served against their purpose. The skulls thought that just meant for the Huntsclan to disappear so it did the best thing it could to do that. It teleported the lot of you to the skull's realm. And the skulls were also used to create a peace-brokering place for once every thousand years during the Dragon wars. That means that it had to be in the other realm for the other 999 years, I also recalled that this place would be back this year. So now you know why I was so sure"

A voice came from behind them "And why couldn't you tell all that before we decided to stop the huntsclan?"

"I didn't know Brocahmas had a tome with all this information back then. I hope his soul gets chewed upon by a pair of krakens" , the Huntsclan member took his distance, knowing better than to remain.

"I was kidding Jake. You changed", Rose sighed. "What happened?"

"I considered you lost for months, I had to deal with some of the darkest creatures on the earth, things like that tend to change someone quite a lot. But I hate every minute of it" he sighed, why did they have to have this conversation right now?

"Even Rotwood?" she asked because she knew about Rotwood, even if he hadn't told her, she'd have seen it in his subconscious in their moments in the dream world. "At first I loved it, he had bugged me for so long and I had taken revenge. But if I think about how it, I feel ashamed. He was stubborn, you know what his last words were? They were "It's principal professor Rotwood". I hope he's in heaven. After all, he was just misunderstood. Just like you or me, or any of these persons" he pointed to the Hunstclan members behind him and Rose could only smile for she knew he was telling the truth.

"Just become yourself again when this is over, ok? That's all I ask", Jake looked at her and smiled, "I promise"

"_Is there no one left to challenge me?" _The voice of the Dark Dragon sounded from the outside, "Pride comes before the fall" Jake thought and he turned to speak to the Huntsclan members.

"There will be Huntsstaves on the far side of the temple near the exit, evade the Dark Dragon's attacks and get your staff, then we will bring him pain." He smiled and turned to Rose "If we don't make it, know that I love you," and he opened the doors.

"We are!" he shouted and he dragon-upped, swearing he could hear the Dark Dragon mutter "Slayers?" in fear.

"A distracted dragon is a slain dragon" Jake heard the words again, but it was the Dark Dragon who was distracted. Time to use this opportunity. With this in mind he charged.

He launched a fireball into the Dark Dragon's chest. The Dark Dragon wasn't recovered yet, the fireball hitting its target with a large impact. The Dark Dragon staggered but he recovered quickly and launched a fireball towards Jake, to slow though and the fireball missed its target, flying into the sky and disbanding.

The next fireballs all missed or were deflected. Unfortunately those made the job of the Huntsclan members a lot harder. A fireball of the Dark Dragon hit a Huntsman instead.

" David got hit!" one of his fellow clan members shouted. "Drag him out of here! Jake stop with the fireballs! It makes our job harder!" she hoped Jake heard him as she evaded another fireball. When she looked up again she saw that Jake had gone into a melee with the Dark Dragon, giving her time to analyze the situation. Most Huntsclan members were taking their staves now, expect for the 2 that had left the terrain with their wounded comrade. Most of the dragons were leaving or had already left. She looked up, the eclipse was almost over, they had to act fast.

Jake was starting to get tired, he had more strength than the Dark Dragon, but the Dark Dragon had more stamina. If he didn't finish this fast, he'd lose for sure. "Why aren't these Huntsclan members attacking yet?" he thought. He looked up and knew it, he couldn't ask them to help him anymore. It'd be suicide and those people deserve a second chance. So he slashed one more time, with all of his strength…. And cut the Dark Dragon's chest. Then he went for the exit, yet the Dark Dragon wouldn't allow himself to die without trying to win, so he wrapped his tail around Jake's ankle and started pulling. He looked up again and saw he only had a few more minutes. Then he saw the Huntsmen move to him. "Don't," he said "I won't make it in time, save yourselves".

How could he say that? They wouldn't be separated again! Not now! "Go! Time to earn our place on this world again!" she knew every one of them would rather die than to leave the one who got them out behind. The hunters cut off the Dark Dragon's tail, freeing Jake, allowing them to drag him out as the temple started to get sucked back into a vortex. One Huntsman had stayed behind to hold the weakened Dark Dragon off.

"Get out of there!" Rose shouted to the Huntsman, only now did it dawn on her it was the same one who had talked to Jake inside the temple.

"Yes," the Dark Dragon coughed, his wounds were starting to get the better of him "Run weakling!" And with that he launched a new fireball.

"The name's Lucas!" the huntsman shouted and he threw his staff like a javelin at the Dark Dragon, the staff flying through the fireball into the Dark Dragon's skull, killing him instantly. Yet at the same time Lucas got hit by the fireball.

Jake could only watch while he was dragged out of the temple. He saw the vortex appear as the eclipse ended. He was sad because of the death of someone who could be considered a hero, but at the same time happy, because at least he died before the vortex appeared, at least he'd have an afterlife. There also was a third feeling. Frustration. Jake had promised those people to get out without too much trouble and now one was wounded badly and another one dead.

And there was only one there to be the target of his anger. "Chang, do you remember what I said what would happen if you hurt my little sister?" Chang's face paled "You said you'd throw me personally into the Krylock-dimension," of course this led to a lot of shocked reactions from the surrounding people and dragons, be it for the threat or for the fact that the Maroon Dragon aka Jake Long had actually put a retaliation measure towards those who harmed his sister.

"And what else did I say?" Chang regained color, she knew where this was going to. "You said that rule counts to everyone who would work with us," movement from a bush a bit away, the shape of a monkey running away. "Run Bananas, exhaust yourself, makes the work of the Krylocks easier" Jake thought, smirking to himself. He asked the expected question "And what did Bananas do?"

"He hurt her by joining us" Chang answered. Jake nodded "Yes, he did. Consider yourself lucky Chang", Jake searched his backpack and took out a portal spell potion. "Jake, you promised to stop being like that once it was over. " Jake turned to Rose softly saying "And I keep my promises" with that he relaxed and threw the potion in front of Bananas, making him run into the portal to the Krylock dimension. "Consider this over"

He turned to see the dragons and his friends staring at him. "I didn't throw him in there, he ran voluntarily in it". And with that he gave Rose a quick hug and flew off. Redemption would take a long time and he wouldn't listen to the Dragon Council, he had no time for it and there was too much to do. Only one thing of him remained of him at Victoria peak, something most didn't see. A small maroon piece of skin. "Huntsclan, let's leave" Rose said to the 6 standing huntsmembers. And the dragons knew better than to intervene, they did nothing but watch as the huntsmembers picked up their wounded comrade and teleported out of there.

Haley just stood there on Victoria peak, analyzing all she heard. "The coming months will be interesting", she figured. "I can't help but notice, Jake didn't even bother to say hello to us" she heard Jonathon say. "He wasn't ready for it, daughter's husband. He'll come back."

Haley turned to her parents and hugged them. "Yes", she thought, "He'll come back… Eventually". She picked up the maroon piece of skin and couldn't help but wonder…

What identity will he assume now?


End file.
